WICHITA, Kan. - President Bush has nominated a long slate of judicial candidates to lifetime-tenured positions on the federal bench in the waning days of his administration.

Among them is U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren of Kansas - a politically connected Republican with solid conservative credentials.

Government records show nearly half of the 34 pending nominations for 42 vacancies in the federal judiciary were tapped in late June and July. Melgren was quietly nominated on July 23rd.

He is slated to fill, if confirmed, the Wichita vacancy created with the semi-retirement of U.S. District Judge Monti Belot.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback sent a letter Wednesday to Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking him to schedule Melgren's nomination for its Sept. 9 hearing.